Duke basketball draws a No. 5 seed, will face No. 12 Oral Roberts in NCAA Tournament

Duke rolled through the end of the regular season carrying their strong play into the ACC tournament to win nine consecutive games.

In the NCAA Tournament, the Blue Devils will face a team with an even longer winning streak.

Seeded No. 5 in the East Region, Duke will travel to Orlando’s Amway Center for a Thursday game with 12th-seeded Oral Roberts, which is riding a 17-game winning streak. No team in the country has a longer active winning streak.

Duke enters the NCAA Tournament winners of 12 of its past 14 overall, having not lost since a 69-62 overtime setback at Virginia on Feb. 11. Oral Roberts (30-4) lost three of its first six games back in November, but has rattled off 27 wins in 28 games since then.

Both teams won their respective league tournament championship to secure automatic bids to the NCAA Tournament.

Duke coach Jon Scheyer led the Blue Devils to the ACC tournament championship at Greensboro Coliseum. Scheyer became the first person to win the ACC tournament as a player, which he did for Duke in 2010, and a head coach.

The Blue Devils finished in a tie for third place in the ACC regular-season standings before beating Pittsburgh, 96-69, Miami, 85-78, and Virginia, 59-49, on three consecutive days from Thursday-Saturday to claim the program’s league-record 22nd ACC championship.

Here’s a look at the matchup, scheduled for a 7:10 p.m. tipoff and set to be broadcast by CBS:

Common ground

Duke and Oral Roberts have no common foes this season. The Golden Eagles didn’t play anyone from the ACC and Duke had no Summit League teams on their schedule.

The only thing close is that Duke scrimmaged Houston back in October and Oral Roberts played a regular-season game against the Cougars the following month.

How Oral Roberts got here

The Eagles won all 18 of their Summit League regular-season games then added three more wins in the league tournament. That included a 92-58 thrashing of North Dakota State last Tuesday night in the league championship game.

Oh and about those three early-season losses, they all came to teams that are also playing in the NCAA Tournament. Eagles coach Paul Mills challenged his team with a Nov. 7 opener at St. Mary’s, which beat Oral Roberts, 78-70.

The Eagles lost 83-45 at Houston on Nov. 14 and also dropped a 95-85 game at Utah State on Nov. 22.

Oral Roberts’ only other loss was at New Mexico on Jan. 9, when the Lobos prevailed 82-75. New Mexico finished 22-11 but did not make the NCAA Tournament.

What players should Duke focus on?

The main player the Blue Devils will have to contend with is Max Abmas. The 6-foot senior guard averages 22.2 points and 4.0 assists per game while hitting 44.1% of his shots from the field.

Inside, Oral Roberts features 7-5 center Connor Vanover, who averages 12.9 points and 7.2 rebounds per game. He’s made 52.4% of his shots.

Issac McBride, a 6-2 junior guard, averages 11.9 points while making 48.4% of his shots.

Who is Duke’s best bet for a big game?

This feels like a game where Mark Mitchell or Dariq Whitehead could really break out for Duke. Guards Jeremy Roach and Tyrese Proctor are both playing well but will have their hands full guarding Abmas and McBride. On the interior, Vanover is a solid rim protector who figures to make life rather difficult for either of Duke’s freshmen big men, 7-1 Dereck Lively and 7-foot Kyle Filipowski.

But Duke has a deeper pool of talent to dip into. That’s where the 6-8 Mitchell or the 6-7 Whitehead could thrive. Mitchell is good at getting into the lane to score or converting rebound baskets. Whitehead is more of a perimeter threat. Both should be able to beat their defenders off the dribble.

If they win ...

Should they advance, the Blue Devils will play the winner of Thursday’s first-round game between No. 4 seed Tennessee (23-10) and No. 13 seed Louisiana (26-7). That game would be Saturday in Orlando.

Purdue is the East Region’s No. 1 seed. Back in November, Duke played the Boilermakers in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament title game. Purdue smacked the Blue Devils, 75-56 on Nov. 27 at Portland, Oregon. Should Duke and Purdue each win their first two NCAA Tournament games, they’d clash again in the Sweet 16 round at New York’s Madison Square Garden.